Computer-based systems enable a wide variety of data processing tasks to be accomplished in a fast and efficient manner. From hand-held consumer products to geographically distributed wide area networks with multi-device data storage arrays, such systems continue to increasingly pervade all areas of society and commerce.
Software is provided to direct the operation of such systems. Software (including firmware) can take a number of forms such as application programs, operating systems, interface and controller routines, and maintenance and housekeeping modules, all of which tend to concurrently utilize and/or share system resources to carry out the various tasks at hand.
With the continued demand for ever increasing levels of complexity and functionality in computer-based systems, there remains a continual need for improvements in the manner in which system resources are allocated among various software processes.